Let Those Who Are Tired Sleep
by BearTamer
Summary: Wendy returns to the Mystery Shack and finds everyone missing. Will she be able to find out what happened or will the man she meets hinder her? Rated K but has borderline T Language


A/N: This story was written before seeing "Dungeons, Dungeons, and More Dungeons" and all episodes following.

Also Please forgive any writing mistakes. It has been a while since I have done any writing and I don't know the process of getting a beta reader, so if anyone could explain it to me and recommend someone that would be much appreciated.

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Wendy Corduroy was tired.

She was tired of waking up at 5:30 every morning to the sound of her dad revving up a chainsaw. She was tired of eating burnt pancakes prepared by her little brother Georgie. She was tired of maintaining her charade of nonchalance.

She was tired because Soos had kept her up all night with a made up story about Mr. Pines having a secret brother.

She had listened at first with mild interest when he began his tall tale at midnight. Oh how she wished that she would've just hung up the phone, but alas, she did not, probably due to her mother. Her mother did teach her to be polite with people over the phone.

Whatever, it doesn't matter anyway. Wendy thought to herself as she trudged up to creaking steps of the Mystery Shack. Soos will get what's coming to him soon enough.

She turned to knob and pushed on the wooden door, nothing. She tried again jiggling the handle, still nothing. The door was locked.

"HEY!" Wendy yelled. "Open the door, I'm here for work!"

The sound of nothingness greeted her. Not even the wind blew as it would have in a scary movie. She shivered at the sudden chill she felt, checking her phone for messages from someone saying that she didn't have to come in today, nothing.

Wendy shrugged her shoulders in indifference and began to walk away. After all she tried to get in; it was no skin off her nose what was going on in the Mystery Shack. Then again, her friends Mabel and Dipper would've answered the door at her beckoning. She smiled; especially Dipper whom she expected still had feelings for her.

Perhaps, they had decided to close shop for the day and went into town. She peered around the side of the shack where the Stanley Mobile was parked in plain view. Nope they were definitely home, Mr. Pines wouldn't go anywhere without his car.

Despite knowing that the Pines Twins were perfectly good at taking care of themselves, she would never forgive herself if something happened to them, Mr. Pines, or even though she really hated him right now, Soos.

Wendy headed toward the giant oak tree located right next to the shack and began to climb. This was going to be tricky. She had used the roof hatch several times to escape the Mystery Shack but never to break in. As she neared the top she thanked her dad silently for her tree climbing skill brought on by all of the logging competitions he forced her be a part of and made a leap for the roof.

She made it, barely, but she did make it using her forearms to get up to the flat part of the roof where two lawn chairs and a bucket of water balloons sat. Carefully she started her way up the roof climbing backwards for maximum tension. As she reached the roof hatch she mouthed a quick prayer, hoping it would be open. It did. Thanking God, she made her way into the Mystery Shack.

Darkness greeted her; unusual since it was 10:47 in the morning. She felt around the walls groping for a light switch which was difficult to find. Finally she feels a familiar toggle and switches on the power, warm light immediately fills the room. She smiles to herself and begins to look for someone, anyone that would be in the building.

As she searched the building a sense of dread began to overtake her. Certainly someone would have come down to see what all of the noise was that she was purposely making. As she began to head toward the stairs an unfamiliar voice stopped her in her tracks.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY HOME?!" The voice demanded. A voice that did not belong to Mr. Pines. . A voice that was right behind her.

Always quick on her feet and ready for a fight, Wendy turned toward the voice taking hold of her always trusty axe and swung the blunt end toward the strange voice. Said voice blocked the axe with his palm grabbing it and pulling her closer to him. "Again," the voice growled. "What are you doing in MY home?"

Wendy stares in disbelief at the face of the voice; it belonged to her boss but…

"Mr. Pines?" She begins.

The familiar face breaks into a broad grin. The unfamiliar voice begins to speak, "Ah, you must be Wendy. He told me that you would be coming."

"Who?-"

"Then again, with what else he told me about you, I would think that you would've turned away to be with your friends when confronted by the locked door." The unfamiliar voice chuckled. "I should've listened to him. After all, he's always right."

Wendy stares for several seconds, glaring at the man she then goes in for a sucker punch to his jaw. Unfortunately the stranger sees it coming and blocks her. However, Wendy is no pushover; she grew up in a household full of guys. Twisting her body she raises her leg and delivers a powerful kick to the man's knee. It works. The stranger let go of her hand and stumbles backwards, he doesn't fall like she hoped for, but now they were on even ground.

"You can't trick me Shape Shifter!" She panted. "I don't know how you got out but I know it's you!"

The familiar face seemed taken aback at the accusation, but the unfamiliar voice launched into a query of questions. "The Shape Shifter? When did you meet him? What did he tell you?"

Wendy took the opportunity from the stranger's momentary distraction and tackled him outright knocking him to the ground. "All right Shape Shifter, enough of your tricks. You might as well show your true form"

Wendy Corduroy I am not the Shape Shifter." The stranger calmly explained. "My name is Stanford Pines. I believe your gopher friend told you about me and my history with my brother, Stanley Pines"

The man calling himself Stanford Pines began to rise. "Stay on the ground!" Wendy barked. "Even if I did believe you were telling the truth I still don't trust you." Wendy paced the floor. Was Soos telling the truth? Even if he was where was he? Where was Mr. Pines? Where were Dipper and Mabel?

"Stanford Pines" sighed. "Take a good look at me Wendy. The Shape Shifter is known to make perfect copies. Do I look exactly like my brother?"

Wendy hesitated. Gripping her ax she slowly walked toward the man on the ground. Now that she got a good look at the man she saw that there were some key differences between him and her boss, for one thing instead of a cheap suit he had on a cheap turtleneck and trench coat. Not only that but his build was slimmer and his hair was longer. However the thing that really caught her attention was the extra finger on each hand.

A six fingered hand that was on the cover of the journal her friend Dipper discovered at the beginning of the summer. Could this man possibly be-?

"If you're wondering whether or not I'm the author, I assure you that I am."

Wendy felt brief elation at the reveal. After all here was the author of the journal right in front of her. So many questions that could be answered, so many mysteries could be solved. The thing was that, this was supposed to be Dipper's shining moment. After all he was the one obsessed with the journals, and it brought up a very important question for the man lying on the ground in front of her:

"Tell me where everyone is."

"That is none of your concern."

Wendy's face darkened. She grabbed her axe and made certain that Stanford Pines could clearly see it. "Listen you, I don't care who you are. I don't care if you are Mr. Pines' brother, I will take this axe and chop one of your fingers off." Her frown deepened, "or my ax might slip a little closer to your head."

Where did that come from?

Stanford Pines pointed a finger at the lone vending machine in the shop, filled with overpriced snacks and goodies. "A-1, B, C-3, type that code in and a door will open to the basement. All of your friends are down there."

Wendy slowly made her way to the vending machine never taking her eye off of "Stanford Pines" Watching him as he lay flat on his back eyes staring at the ceiling. Wendy took her eyes off her quarry for a mere moment to input the code. Much to her surprise the machine creaked to life moving to the left revealing an old pulley style elevator leading downward.

"Fascinating isn't it?" The voice made Wendy nearly jump out of her skin. "There are all sorts of hidden rooms and passages in this old shack, of course you already know about the one to the roof." Wendy emitted an involuntary shudder. "Well what are waiting for?" The voice laughed. "Go down there and see your friends."

Wendy could not say what made her heed the man's words but she headed down the stairs. She regretted the decision as soon as she took the first step. She felt her heartbeat quicken as she made her way on the elevator, down into the darkness; the grinding wheels of the elevator shaft offering a warning of dread.

Stop.

He tricks you.

Leave while you are still awake.

The elevator let her out with a familiar dinging. Her dangerously fast heartbeat, her pallid face, and her shivering body all told her to run away. However, there was an enchanting hum that drew her deeper and deeper into the unknown depths. A faint glowing light beckoned her forth.

She walked toward the light.

"Beautiful isn't it?"

"Yes. Where does it lead?"

"It leads to the Truth."

Wendy stood in front of the portal for what felt like hours though in reality it was less than four minutes. Her feelings of doubt and dread were replaced by a calm curiosity and hope, as she made her way toward the portal.

"Wendy STOP!" A familiar voice called. Wendy froze.

"Dipper is that you?" Silence answered her in return. "Who was that?" Wendy continued forward. Who was that? She thought to herself again.

"It was the voice that you wanted to hear; it feeds you the lies that your head desires but not the truth your heart needs."

Wendy stood on the verge of no return, her toes barely kissing the line of caution; on the brink of no return. "Who are you?"

"I am the one that will help you sleep."

Wendy remembered how tired she was. She wanted to step beyond the brink. She wanted to do nothing more than sleep, however, she had one more question for the voice. "What will I see?"

"That depends on you. Some see unimaginable horror, others see nothing but a beautiful fantasy. It takes a strong soul and an accepting mind to see the true balance."

Wendy needed to hear no more. She had never been surer of anything in her life. In that moment her choice was clear.

She picked up her foot, spun around and walked the other way. When she got to the top of the stairs she saw Stanford Pines lying on the floor chuckling. "He couldn't get you to go in, everyone else, even my brother whom I hate so much were tricked by him." His chuckling turned into maniacal laughter. "THAT OLD DEMON HAS BEEN HAD!"

As Stanford Pines rolled on the floor laughing, Wendy stared at the man in pity. "My entire family is on the other side of that portal, and quite frankly I don't even care!" Then he sighed and looked straight into Wendy's eyes. "I am so very tired, and the weary have no time to care others." Wendy didn't know whether she should destroy this man where he lay or if she sympathized with him. No matter what she chose she knew that she would hate herself for it, so she sat down next to him.

"Stanford Pines you are a right bastard." Said man raised his eyebrows. "Don't worry, I don't think you are an evil man per say. Still-"She paused for only a moment. "I don't trust you, and I probably never will." She concluded with a smile.

Stanford Pines looked at the red-headed girl. "I must ask, how did you resist going in."

Wendy diverted her eyes biting her lip, then looked straight into his eyes. "I heard my friend's voice telling me not to go in."

A lie, or perhaps even she didn't fully understand why she went in herself, ah well.

Stanford Pines emitted a toothy grin. "You're a lot wiser than I thought you would be." His face then darkened into a frown. "Wendy Corduroy, I hope we never see each other again." By the time he had finished that sentence Wendy had already made her way out the front door. A familiar shadow darkened Stanford's way.

"That girl was right in saying that you are a right bastard."

"And you are a damned demon."

Silence

"Get off the floor."

"I am so tired. For a Dream Demon you sure don't let me rest."

"That's because our work isn't done."

"It never is."

Stanford Pines rose off the floor dusting himself off. He headed toward the vending machine and punched in the code. He boarded the elevator and pushed the button for the last floor. The chains and wheels creaked their familiar greetings

Traitor

Demon

Bastard

He would have to figure out which wheel was calling him bastard and make sure to never fix it, he now loved that wheel. Stanford Pines made his way toward the portal; His portal, his creation. He stood in front of the gateway watching. No matter what side he was on, he would always be watching. He would always be waiting.

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A/N: Although this was written before the episode "Dungeons, Dungeons, and More Dungeons" Having seen that episode, "Stanchurian Candidate" as well as "The Last Mabelcorn" it does not dissuade my suspicion that there is something going on with Stanford Pines and I find the character highly suspect.

Also I again apologize for any mistakes. I want to get better so if you have suggestions please inform me in the review section.


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